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A Measurement of Gravitational Lensing of the Microwave Background Using South Pole Telescope Data

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Abstract

  • We use South Pole Telescope data from 2008 and 2009 to detect the non-Gaussian signature in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) produced by gravitational lensing and to measure the power spectrum of the projected gravitational potential. We constrain the ratio of the measured amplitude of the lensing signal to that expected in a fiducial ?CDM cosmological model to be 0.86 ± 0.16, with no lensing disfavored at 6.3?. Marginalizing over ?CDM cosmological models allowed by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP7) results in a measurement of A lens = 0.90 ± 0.19, indicating that the amplitude of matter fluctuations over the redshift range 0.5 = 0.90 ± 0.19, indicating that the amplitude of matter fluctuations over the redshift range 0.5 = 0.90 ± 0.19, indicating that the amplitude of matter fluctuations over the redshift range 0.5 k = -0.0014 ± 0.0172; a 10% improvement in the amplitude of matter fluctuations within ?CDM, ?8 = 0.810 ± 0.026; and a 5% improvement in the dark energy equation of state, w = -1.04 ± 0.40. When compared with the measurement of w provided by the combination of WMAP7 and external constraints on the Hubble parameter, the addition of the lensing data improves the measurement of w by 15% to give w = -1.087 ± 0.096.

Publication Date

  • 2012

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